DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott has paid tribute to his Chester-based mum, who died after a battle with cancer.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott has paid tribute to his Chester-based mum, who died after a battle with cancer.

Mr Prescott, who has spent weeks at mother Phyllis Swales' bedside, will join his brothers and sisters for a celebration of her life on Monday.

Mrs Swales, 85, who remarried after she and John's late father, Bert, divorced, had been a proud mother, grandmother and great-grandmother as well as a lifelong socialist and community stalwart.

The Deputy Prime Minister told The Chronicle: 'She was a positive force for good within the family and tried to instil in everyone she met a spirit of contribution to the less able or disenfranchised in the community.'

Many of those paying tribute have commented that Mr Prescott, who spent his formative years in Chester, had a lot of his mother in him.

Mrs Swales died peacefully at her home in Pine Gardens, Upton, last Wednesday lunchtime due to bronchial pneumonia. Her immune system had been damaged due to cancer of the pancreas.

She was surrounded by close family. Mr Prescott was not present but arrived six hours later.